Stress
by Miss I-Like-Too-Many-Fandoms
Summary: Korra's attempts to help Asami relax after a difficult day at work don't go at all as planned. Asami gets a bit...colorful.


**The Legend of Korra belongs to Nick and Bryke.**

"Hey, Korra, I'm ho-" The young tycoon nearly fell over as the Avatar appeared out of nowhere. She suddenly found herself crushed to a warm body, her slight form encircled by dark arms and held nearly a foot off of the ground. A searing kiss met her lips as she was set back down, leaving her blinking and dazed when the waterbender pulled away. Korra grinned smugly, squeezing her girlfriend's hips in an attempt to rouse her. "Oh. Um. I take it you missed me?'

"A little. I guess." The heiress' chuckle was interrupted by a large yawn.

"Sorry, it was long day. There was a huge mishap at the refinery. Then, we lost hundreds of airship parts in some freak storm off of Chameleon Bay. Two of my secretaries even quit! Apparently, the highest salary in the world for such a position wasn't good enough for them! They just walked out! I had to pull two of my researchers off of Project Glider so they could field the calls. I needed those she-wolfbats replaced yesterday! I can't keep my researchers in the office! Their work is vital if we want to create streamlined global aerial intercourse. And now I have three clients breathing down my neck because their private ships won't be ready until-" Asami was again silenced by lingering kiss. Korra couldn't help but to grin at the older teen's shocked and almost confused expression.

"Asami. Shhh." The bender switched her grasp on the flustered and overworked CEO, taking her hand. She half dragged, half guided her girlfriend to the bedroom, pushing her lightly on to the ridiculously large bed.

"I know we haven't spent much time together lately, but I'm too tired for anything tonight. I'm sorry. I think I'll take a long bath and call it a night." Asami sighed, rubbing her forehead as she took in the Avatar's poorly disguised disappointment, before she could speak further however, Korra brightened and disappeared into the bathroom. The tired engineer closed her eyes and smiled softly as she heard water running. She jerked forward and nearly fell over as her overzealous girlfriend attempted to remove her jacket. "Korra. Ow. Not so hard."

"Sorry!" Asami sighed. Korra had a tendency to be rather rough, not knowing her own strength. After a few minutes, the heiress found herself nude, her and her clothing relatively unharmed. As she sank into the blissfully warm water, the sounds of shifting bottles and general rummaging could be heard. The waterbender rushed around the room, climbing nearly all the way into some cabinets in the search for shampoo and soap.

"Just grab one." Korra glanced over and grinned as she took in the nonbender's already less tense form, her head lolling over the side of the tub, her eyes closed. Using her "Avatar's intuition," the Water Tribe Teen seized a strangely green bottle from beneath the sink, along with what smelled like a bar of jasmine soap. Korra returned to the tub rather proud of herself for her achievement. Asami looked rather relaxed and she was going to smell like jasmine, Korra's favorite.

After admiring her girlfriend's form for several moments, the Avatar settled by the lounging teen's head, pouring out some of the shampoo into her hand. It was an odd color. Korra had never seen such goopy or strangely tinted lather, but she quickly shrugged it off, too eager to have her fingers in silky black locks. Asami groaned as she felt Korra working through her hair. She opened her mouth several times to invite her girlfriend into the tub, but she couldn't stand the thought of her stopping for even just a moment. An odd scent reached her, but she was enjoying the attention too much to care, nonetheless inquire as to which shampoo Korra was using. She nearly moaned as the waterbender began to really massage her scalp. Asami wasn't sure, and frankly didn't care, if the younger teen was using her bending or just her hands.

"Mmm. This is nice. Thank you."

"My pleasure." The nonbender grinned at the huskiness creeping into the Avatar's voice.

"Come on in."

"What?" Korra paused in her ministrations.

"Get in the tub." The waterbender really had to exercise her slowly developing self control. Though not very loud and mostly playful, there was an undercurrent of command in Asami's voice and it sent shivers down the Avatar's spine.

"Tonight is about you."

"And I want you in the tub."

"I thought you were tired." Asami turned and her expression had Korra on her feet immediately. The bender was disrobed and in the tub in record time, sitting behind her girlfriend with the heiress' slender back against her own chest. When wordlessly handed the soap, the Water Tribe teen turned her attention from Asami's locks, leaving the shampoo to sit while she lathered up pale skin.

Despite her own desire and Asami's clear intent, Korra attempted to keep her touches as innocent as possible. She started her task on the businesswoman's back, working her way down. Asami, however, was having none of it. She pressed back against her girlfriend, leaning her head to catch the Avatar's lips. Surprised and now pinned to the tub, the waterbender could not help but to return the kiss. Pleased with how easily she could sway her girlfriend, Asami turned suddenly, straddling Korra and throwing her arms around the bender's neck.

"Asami…" Korra could feel the nonbender's smile against her skin as her lips lingered around her ear. The Avatar had just regained her breath when she found herself gasping as Asami nipped and licked at the shell and lobe of her ear. Asami grinned against her skin again before trailing her lips down the column of Korra's throat. The waterbender's right hand gripped the edge of the tub hard, her other hand at Asami's hip, as she braced herself for the older teen's usual bath wickedness, but instead of the heiress working her way down, she popped up without warning. Pale arms wound their away around a dark neck and yanked, the engineer falling backwards quickly and hard into the water, dragging her girlfriend with her.

Before she could pull her girlfriend in for an underwater kiss, which was the whole reason she had probably just bruised her back, Asami found herself very forcefully and rudely rebuffed. Korra, with eyes wide, had jerked herself harshly from the now rather disgruntled teen's grasp, pushing on the submerged teen's chest to leverage herself out of the water. Asami's head hit the tub rather hard.

"Korra! What was that? You're a waterbender and you panicked at being dragged under?" The heiress came up glowering, running a hand backwards through her now shampoo free hair. Her fingers lingered at the now tender spot at the back of her head. The Avatar was gaping like a fish, her eyes about to pop out of her skull.

"Um…Asami…"

"If your goal was to kill the mood, you succeeded. Good job. If I had known you were going to be this insistent about me relaxing I wouldn't have bothered!" The now very embarrassed and hurt teen moved to get out of the tub, fully intending to sleep for at least three weeks to get over her shame, only to be slammed into the wall, her legs banging painfully against the faucets. The couple were now awkwardly half in, half out of the large tub tucked into a corner of the bathroom. "What is your problem!" The Avatar flinched at the volume.

"You…um…you're not clean! You have to finish your bath!" Korra cowered beneath the answering glare, removing her hands from Asami's form as quickly as possible. As the heiress exited the tub, she scrambled after her, nearly running into her again. "Well, Asami, I think there was something…off about that shampooo. Maybe we should wash your hair again." She attempted to guide the taller teen back to the tub, but Asami refused to even acknowledge her, grabbing a towel and wrapping it about her form as she headed to the bedroom. Korra bypassed the towels to rush after her girlfriend, dread heavy upon her features.

The rather miffed tycoon snatched her brush from the counter on her way out, planning on having Korra brush her hair as penance only to catch a strange flash of color out of the corner of her eye. She turned and froze, her emerald eyes wide in shock and horror. She had seen the mirror out of the corner of her eye and the strange flash had been her hair. Her raven lock had become a startling shade of orange.

"I thought the shampoo looked weird. And smelled funny. You told me to grab one and I did. The water activated it and it startled me, that's why I acted like an idiot. And I know I really, really messed up. I'm so sorry, Asami! I'll fix it, I promise! That's an Avatar promise! I can't break an Avatar promise!" The waterbender stood at the now fire-headed girl's shoulder, her words running together. "If it's any consolation, I think it looks-" Asami held a hand up, her eyes now clenched shut. Her chest shook with angry long breaths. It was clear that she was doing her best not to scream at her girlfriend.

"Korra, will you please bring me the bottle." Though phrased but not inflected as a question, Korra took no issue with the command, well aware that her life hung in the balance. She slipped and nearly fell as she rushed over to the tub and retrieved the odd green bottle. She had just recognized a logo on the cap when she handed it over to the heiress, who gave an exasperated sigh as she glanced over the container. "This is one of Varrick's experimental products. It was in a gift basket that he sent from prison."

"So, your hair will change back, right?" Asami turned, arching a brow. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Another bottle came with it. Might be a remedy or something I don't know." The taller girl slammed the bottle on top of the counter before bracing both hands against the stone, hanging her head. After a few moments of nervous shifting and furtive glancing, Korra placed a hand on her girlfriend's bare shoulder. Before she could speak, however, Asami did. "I-" She took a sharp breath, "think it'd be best if you left me alone for a while."

Korra pulled away, standing awkwardly for several moments before moving to the tub. She drained it and gathered her discarded clothing, heading to the bedroom to put on her pajamas. She carefully avoided touching any part of Asami as she passed. Korra's flinched when she heard the door slam behind her, nearly dropping what she carried. She dressed as slowly as possible, wanting to delay having to climb into bed alone for as long as possible. When finally settled into bed, she mentally berated herself for her idiocy. She had ruined what was supposed to have relaxed Asami, instead compounding her stress.

On the other side of the door, Asami felt absolutely awful. After a very brief period of vanity induced rage, the heiress had settled on being horrendously guilty and twisted up inside. She had removed the towel from her body roughly and thrown it across the room, enjoying the sound of the wadded up cloth knocking things over for a moment before feeling even more childish. It wasn't Korra's fault, not really. She had just been trying to brighten her day and she had mostly succeeded, until she actually brightened something. Asami wasn't even that bothered about her hair, at least not really, really bothered. After several more moments of resting against the counter and glaring at her reflection, Asami tore herself away and began rummaging through the numerous cabinets around the room.

"Panda-lily scented conditioner. Nope. Fire Ferret brand soap. Avatar scented?! That's embarrassing. I need to hide that." The heiress shoved the bright red container back into the cabinet, placing it as far back as she could reach. "Why do I have cabbage scented shampoo? When did I buy this?" She tossed it into the trashcan, cheering quietly as she made the shot. "Ooooh. Jasmine scented massage oil. Let's keep that out."

"Is it safe to approach?" Asami flailed and fell backwards, having moved from the cabinet by the sink to one of the higher set alcoves. The shelves she had opened to stand on slammed closed as she attempted to regain her footing. Instead of meeting harsh stone, however, the engineer found herself cradled in burly arms. Korra had opened her mouth to speak but when cerulean eyes met emerald, the pair erupted into laughter. When the pair settled down they were sitting on the floor, their backs pressed against the drawers that had nearly killed Asami, tears drying on their cheeks.

"Sorry for being such a jerk."

"I did turn your hair orange. So I think it's fair." Korra tucked a stray lock of once raven hair behind Asami's ear. "It looks nice."

"It looks awful." The heiress chuckled, but a hint of bitterness remained.

"It doesn't matter what color your hair is, you're beautiful." Asami smiled gratefully at her girlfriend, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.

"Thank you. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this washes out though, alright?" They laughed softly. "Really though, Korra, I was awful. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken my bad day out on you. You were trying to help."

"Alright, alright. You were terrible. Apology accepted." The couple laughed again, Korra placing her head on Asami's shoulder. It only took a few moments for the Avatar to realize that her girlfriend was still naked. Expecting at least some semblance of mocking resistance, the waterbender was surprised and pleased to find herself pulled down as she pressed kisses to the side of Asami's face. The heiress had moved them sideways, leaving her on her back on the cold stone and Korra above her. As they kissed, Asami pulled at the younger teen's tank top, running her fingers beneath it when the younger teen showed no intention of breaking the kiss.

Asami was working on Korra's bindings beneath her pajama top when her girlfriend finally broke the kiss. Assuming, from several months of experience, that the Avatar was going to move her attention to her neck, the no longer stressed engineer attempted to fully remove Korra's tank top and bindings in one go, only to have Korra crawl over her and leave her panting on the stone.

"Hey!" Asami twisted as much as she could to try and see what had possessed her girlfriend to abandon her. The shorter teen had slinked to a corner of shelving and was now rummaging through its contents. "Korra-"

"I found it!" The disheveled Avatar whirled around, still on her knees, holding a strange green bottle triumphantly. The taller teen tackled her, just barely keeping from slamming both of them into the wooden shelves. After a grateful kiss from her girlfriend, Korra grinned smugly. "So, bath part 2?" Asami stood, pulling the waterbender with her.

"I was thinking more along the lines of washing this out in the sink and hurrying to bed." At Korra's crestfallen expression, Asami halted as she guided her to the sink, pulling her close for a searing kiss. "Not for sleeping." The young tycoon grinned at the shorter teen's excitement.

Korra stood to the side as the heiress worked the hopefully effective "un-dye-er" into her hair. The duo cheered when the goopy liquid responded just as its pair had, activating as water hit it. They inspected Asami's hair, finding no traces of the horrid orange. The Avatar scooped the raven haired teen up once the whole ordeal had been declared a success, carrying her to the bed amidst light strikes and shouting.

The next morning, Asami awoke to a rather smug Korra.

"An Avatar always keeps their promises." With an eye roll and a rough shove, the Avatar found herself on the floor, but her smug grin remained for the rest of the day.


End file.
